


Never to Return

by Keeh



Category: Original Work
Genre: Birthday Party, Dark Fairy Tale Elements, Fae & Fairies, Fairies, Family, Fantasy, Forests, Loss, Sisters, The Enchanted Forest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-01 04:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15767010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keeh/pseuds/Keeh
Summary: After our father disappeared our mother loved to tell us stories that the chief banned. My only older sister, Loxy, was a purist and didn’t want to know about the outside. She hated Mother’s tales and constantly threatened to tell everyone what she was up to.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is just the prologue, but please let me know if there's anything I need to fix. I hope you enjoy!

After our father disappeared our mother loved to tell us stories that the chief banned. My only older sister, Loxy, was a purist and didn’t want to know about the outside. She hated Mother’s tales and constantly threatened to tell everyone what she was up to.  


One day when we were all gathered around Mother’s jar of fireflies, she told us about the evil fairies that lived across the pond. She told us they were tall with crimson skin and haunting eyes. The fairies that lived in our forest were small with skin as white as freshly fallen snow, and bright eyes. The evil fairies lived in decaying trees, hiding from anything joyful.  


“Remember girls, stay away from their forest, those are dangerous fairies, and they are not to be trusted.” We all leaned in close to her soft voice. All except Loxy of course.  


“Mother,” We all turned at her harsh tone. “Why would there be evil fairies? Especially near here, so close to us good fairies.”  


“Because not everyone is good, Loxy. You need to learn that if you ever want to go into the human world, there’s evil everywhere.”  


She scowled and flew away from our tree, probably to tell her equally bitter friends what had been said.  


“Where’s the human world Mother?” My voice chimed in the silence left by my sister.  
Mother’s smile lit the room the way fireflies could never hope to. Her white skin glimmered in the faint light. Her light red hair was twisted up in a bun on top of her head. Her ears came to a soft point and were curved slightly.  


“There is only one way to get there, child. You must be sent there by the chief, with the invitation of humans.”  


“Would you get to see the humans?” Faylinn, the oldest one after me, was practically beaming.  


“Of course you would.”  


The rest of the night we asked questions about the humans that she mostly half answered. Fay and I smiled at each other the whole time.  


The next day my mother disappeared.  


Loxy told us before breakfast that she had gotten lost crossing the pond. She was checking on her bread in the oven the whole time she talked to us. When her story was finished, she gave us a false smile.  


“Why would she try to cross the pond? That’s where the evil fairies live.” My sisters all turned to me, confusion in their eyes. “I mean, she always warned us not to go over there, why would she do this?”  


“Fidget, Faylinn, can I talk to you in the sitting room for a moment.”  
We made no move to get up.  


“Now.”  


The three of us fluttered into the next room and each perched on one of the many chairs in the room. Loxy sighed and untied her pink, floral apron.  


“Why would she leave us? You’re not even of age yet.”  


“Before she left, she wrote a note to the three of us, saying that since we’re the oldest, we’re in charge. I’m over the two of course.”  


Her cold silver eyes darted between us, daring either of us to question her leadership. Neither of us spoke.  


Fay glared and stomped back into the kitchen. Loxy watched her leave before leaning closer to me, whispering into my ear. “Mother drowned in the pond, don’t tell anyone.”  


She raised her eyebrows before strutting through the doorway so she could fly up to her bedroom. Faylinn grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into the corner of the kitchen, away from our sisters.  


“Didn’t Mother always say she’s put you in charge, Fidget?”  


“Yeah, she did. Doesn’t really matter now; does it?”  


Faylinn’s light gold eyes begun to fill with tears and a hint of anger. Her eyes were so much like Mother’s, soft and warm. At that moment I decided I would do whatever I could to make sure to protect what was left of my family.


	2. A Birthday Party and some Bad News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fidget's youngest sister turns of age and her older sister delivers some news.

Years later, my youngest sister stands at the same height as me.

I don’t notice until the morning of her birthday when she yanks me out of bed and stands me up next to her. She grabs me by the shoulders and makes direct eye contact with me. I sigh in disappointment.

“Lunette, when did you grow so tall?”

Her smile expands and her pale pink eyes shine brighter. “I don’t know. But I’m your size now, Sis.”

I give her a sad grin of my own. “You’re all grown up now, aren’t you?”

“Would Mother have been proud of me?”

Lunette was young when Mother disappeared, so she doesn’t remember her. She still looks up to her, though. When she was smaller she would draw pictures of her with wide, white wings and long hair the color of the night sky.

“I think so, I know I am.”

Her face glows and she skips out of my room.

 

Hours before the party, Faylinn tosses flower petals all around her, giving color to the room. She taps every lightning bug she sees, telling them to fly up high. She dances around the room as she decorates.

“Fidget, aren’t you excited?” She prances to the table I’m seated at. “It’s the last party like this we can ever have again.”

“Exactly, none of the girls are babies anymore. They’re all _adults_ now. Which, by the way, makes _us_ even older. Everything’s gonna be different after this.”

Faylinn walks away again, throwing handfuls of confetti in any direction she can think of. I watch her flutter around, decorating the room with an enormous smile on her face. She giggles loudly as she dances around.

I toss the thought around in my mind for a minute before voicing it.

“I’m just glad the others don’t know everything.”

The rest of our sisters still don’t know what happened to our mother. But that didn’t stop Faylinn and me from doing some digging.

We found the records of Loxy telling the chief about Mother’s stories. Almost immediately afterward he came to our house and threw her into the river. We also learned that whenever someone did something against our laws, they were drowned.

Fay’s smile fades and her feet fall to the floor. Her gold eyes fill with tears she won’t allow to fall.

“Do you think Loxy would have told me herself?”

“No, she didn’t want me to tell anyone.”

Faylinn plants herself in the seat next to me. She rests her empty flower basket on the table.

“Didn’t I deserve to know? Mother put me in charge too.”

“I know, maybe she thought she was protecting you?”

She lets out a frustrated huff and after a quiet moment her smile returns. But it’s less bright and natural than what I would like it to be.

 

At the end of the party, Loxy stands up to give a speech. Behind her, Faylinn and I roll our eyes. Fay tries unsuccessfully to hide her giggles behind her hands.  

Turning sharply, Loxy gives her an icy glare.

For what feels like hours, Loxy goes on about stories of Lunette that none of us can recall. All of her empty words run together until the end. “When I accept the title of chief next week…”

Every gaze snaps up to meet her.

_What?”_ She gives me such a cold glare that I shift my eyes to my hands. She clears her throat and continues her speech, only now; everyone’s attention is locked on her. I’m sure that wasn’t an accident.

“At the end of the week our current chief will be retiring and I will take over for him. It is a burden I _must_ carry.” She wipes her eyes as if shooing away tears. “Excuse me. That is all.”

She sits down and dabs a cloth napkin at her dry eyes, leaning forward slightly.

Faylinn whistles for my attention. Once she’s sure she has it she floats a note behind Loxy’s back. I catch it with ease and unfold it under the table.

_What now?_

I scribble on the other side. _I don’t know._ The note hovers back over to her.

 

After the party, only Fay and I are left. We clean the tables and stack the chairs silently. Once everything’s in order, she speaks up.

“What can we do about this? There’s no way Loxy would let us go explore outside the forest.”

“I don’t think there’s much we _can_ do, other than ask her if we can go.”

She scoffs as she stacks the chairs. “There’s no way she’ll approve of it.”

I scoff back at her, earning a raised eyebrow. “Maybe she would send us away. You know how much she wants us to leave her alone so she can be the only one in charge.”

Faylinn twists her lavender hair around a finger, contemplating my point. “I guess you’re right.”

“We’ll ask her the night of the ceremony.”

“So, when she’s in a good mood.”

I laugh and toss a dirty rag at her. She catches it and throws it over her shoulder, on top of the pile of the rest of our used supplies. “Come on, what would Chief Loxy say about throwing things?”

                                                            

Loxy beams down at me, the chief’s robe all but strangling her. The robe had been made for average sized fairies; my sister’s big. Her smug grin takes over her face, making her appear almost kind.

“What do you want, Fidget?”

“Uh, Faylinn and I wanted to request permission to go to the human world.”

Most of her joy slides away. She rolls her eyes.

“Where is _she_ then?”

That’s exactly the question I want answered. The two of us had agreed to talk to Loxy together. But I can’t let Loxy know about any of that.

“In her room, asleep. She left the party early.” I say. Loxy furrows her brows together; her smile now completely gone. Her gaze is full of concern. It isn’t like her to worry about us, so I wonder if she knows something I don’t.

“No, Fidget, neither of you can leave here.”

“Why-” Loxy shoves me aside and brushes past me.

Faylinn comes up behind me and taps me on the shoulder. I turn around and her hopeful air fades away. I nod toward our sister and she blinks at me, confused.

“She said no.”

“Why not?” She asks tugging nervously at her long gray skirt.

“How should I know why she does anything?”

Something unreadable crosses across my sister’s face before she speaks. “Fidget, don’t be so bitter. She must have some good reason for not letting us go, right? She’s the leader now; she must have a lot on her mind.” Faylinn says. I wonder why she’s changing her tune so quickly; she’s the one that wanted us to leave in the first place.

“She’s been chief for an _hour_ , she hasn’t had _time_ to be stressed yet.”

She sighs and straightens my robe over my wings. I wince as the fabric brushes against the tear in my right wing. Recently, I caught my wing on a stray branch and ripped off the tip when Fay and I were teaching the younger fairies how to fly.

“Sorry.” She mutters. Loxy turns her head and makes eye contact with Faylinn; I had told her she went to bed. Loxy’s eyes narrow and she makes a beeline for us. “Got to go.”  She ducks away, disappearing into the dark shadows of the room.

“Fidget, didn’t you tell me Faylinn had left the party?” Her extra height allows her to be more intimidating than she would be otherwise.

“She told me she did. She must have decided to come back.”

A faint growl escapes my sister’s lips, startling me. “Is everything okay Loxy?” I ask.

She gives me an unconvincing smile and flies away. I feel like she’s mocking me; it’s impossible to fly with uneven wings.

 I turn to where Fay had snuck away earlier. She was nowhere to be seen.


	3. Flying Away From Home

That night I’m awoken by a loud clanging in my and Faylinn’s room. I roll out of bed to investigate; what I find is surprising. Faylinn is gathering everything she thinks might be important and stuffing it in her canvas sack. She pulls books off shelves, yanks clothes off of hangers, grabbing everything in sight.  


“Fay, what are you doing?”  


She freezes before turning around. She takes in my tired appearance and allows the corners of her lips to twitch upwards.  


“Nothing, Fidget. Go back to bed.”  


“Are you going somewhere?” I ask.  


The tone in my sister’s voice is strangely soothing. “Yeah, Loxy changed her mind and gave me permission to go exploring. Isn’t that great?” Her cheery smile is so fake it hurts.  


“Loxy never changes her mind; she says it’s a sign of weakness. You know that; we all know that” I say.  


The grin is wiped away, a frown now set firmly in place. “Go back to bed.”  


“No, you know you can’t come back if you do this.”  


“Why would I want to come back here? Especially now that Loxy’s taking over. But don’t worry; I’m sure I’ll see you again soon.”  


She steps out the doorway and flies out into the darkness of the night.  


I watch her for what feels like hours before running out of my room, down the hall to the kitchen where I know Loxy will be pacing. She shifts her gaze from her feet when she feels me come in.  


“What are you doing up?” She asks.  


“I should be asking you the same thing, Chief.” I match her tone.  


She sighs and pulls herself up onto the counter. She taps the spot next to her, signaling for me to join her.  


I watch her blank face for a couple seconds. She’s struggling to hold her eyes open to focus on me. I hesitate to tell her, but she needs to know.  


“Faylinn left.”  


Fear clouds her eyes. Their silver light twinkles in the dark rooms. She slides off the counter and storms out the kitchen up to mine and Faylinn’s room. I follow after her.  


“She’s not in there. She’ll be halfway to the river by now.”  


“Exactly; I know what she’s up to.” I resist the temptation to scream. As always Loxy tells only the tiniest bit of information possible.  


“What could she want so badly she’d run away for? The humans won’t let her in without your blessings.” My frustration seeps into my voice.  


“She’s not going to the humans.”  


I grab Loxy by the shoulders and spin her around, forcing her to face me. “Where is she going then?”  


Loxy growls and brushes my hand away. Too shocked to react I can only stare as she destroys my room, searching for any sign that Faylinn changed her mind and came back. When I regain my senses I storm over to Loxy.  


“Where did she go?”  


She barely misses a beat. “She’s planning to cross the river to the lair of the evil fairies.”  


“Why?” I stay on her heels as she frantically flutters around the room.  


“Because she doesn’t believe that Mother died.”  


“She’s not stupid Lox. Why is she really going? And how do you know all of that anyway? She’s never talked to me about any of this.”  


Loxy pauses in her searching before responding. “Did you ever consider that she didn’t tell you everything?”  


“You told us even less,” I say, giving the open door a final glare before racing out of my room, down to where I know some of my other sisters will be sleeping.  


When I got there I shove open their door and the three girls in the room all bolt upright.  


“Fidget, what’s wrong.” The oldest, Hemlock mutters in the silence after noticing me.  


“We have an emergency; Faylinn left the forest.”  


They spring out of bed as I smack the lightning bugs awake. The girls all squint in the sudden brightness while I leave to go to the next room.  


I tell the rest of my sisters to gather in Hemlock’s room. Most of them gather on the three plush beds shoved against the walls. The girls that don’t make it to the beds are sprawled out on the floor. I lean against the door with the others facing me.  


“What’s going on, Fidget? Where’d Fay go?” Lunette’s high voice pierces the stunned silence.  


“She’s crossing the river.”  


The girls gasp.  


Chanter, one of the youngest girls, tilts her head in confusion. She runs a hand through her short white hair. “So, is she looking for Mother?”  


“I don’t know. Loxy thought she was keeping secrets.”  


All the girls start talking at once. Their normally soft voices pounce on top of each other in a symphony of panic. Their voices continue to rise and I’m worried that they’ll wake the neighbors.  


“Stop.”  


Hemlock is the first to speak again. “But why can’t Fay come back?” She raises an eyebrow.  


They all stop talking and look back at me, their eyes all shine with worry.  


“You all know that when a fairy leaves here they’re never allowed to come back. She’s been exposed to the outside.”  


“What if she does try to come here?” Chanter’s wide sea-green eyes are filled with tears waiting to fall. Her white hair slaps her face as wind rushes around her.  


The other girls around her scoot away, afraid of its force.  


“I don’t know.”  


I hope they’ll never learn what really happened to Mother. They’re all considered adults now, but they’ll always be my little sisters.  


It’ll always be my job to protect them.  


Even from the truth.

Late at night, Lunette sneaks into my room. Admittedly, I could hear her as she crept down the hall.  


“You can take Fay’s bed tonight. I don’t think she’ll mind. You’re the one that misses her the most.” Of course, that’s not true.  


Faylinn and I spend almost every second of our lives together. We shared a room for as long as I could remember.  


“It’ll be okay, Fidget. She’ll come back eventually.”  


“I’m sure she will.” Hopefully, she could believe that even if I couldn’t.  


She lies silently after that and must have fallen asleep. 

I’m woken up by the whole forest screaming.  


Lunette sits up in bed and looks me straight in the eyes; pale pink irises swimming with terror. Neither of us have ever heard anything like this.  


“What’s that?”  


Ignoring her, I roll out of bed. I grab a robe and throw it around my shoulders, hopefully hiding my damaged wings. If there’s someone here trying to hurt us, I don’t want them to know they have an advantage over me. I turn back to Lunette to tell her, “Stay here.”  


She watches me slip past the doorframe before she disappears back under the blankets.  


I run into Loxy a few steps into the hallway. She has all the rest of our sisters behind her. Their white skin glows in the dark.  


“We need to escape through the hole in the back of your room.” She insists.  


“Why? What’s going on?”  


She growls, not satisfied with my hesitation. “I’ll tell you while we’re flying to safety. All of our fairies have already left.” She pulls me aside and whispers, “I saw some fire fairies and…”  


I interrupt her. “I don’t want to hear it if no one else knows.” She needs to stop only telling me things. “You know how much Fay hated that.” I ignore anything else she tries to say to me.  


Unfortunately, the lack of frightened crying from anywhere else in our forest proves her right. I can’t help glancing behind her to see the other trees nearby being eaten by starving flames. So I nod and turn back to where I had come from. 

We all storm into my room, urging Lunette out of bed. She joins the rest of us in watching Loxy stomp over to the blocked hole on the far end of the room.  


Months ago Faylinn and I accidentally fell through our wall, making the opening.  


“Wait,” I shrug off my robe. “I can’t fly anywhere, sis.”  


She glares at me as if it’s my fault I’m injured. Which, I guess it kind of is.  


“I’ll carry you.” I hesitate, but I know she’s right. There’s no time to think of another solution.  


Loxy tells all the girls to jump out but not to fly anywhere yet; she has to show them the way. One at a time they all spring out the window, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Finally, only Loxy and I are left. She rolls her eyes and gathers me in her arms.  


The other’s gather around as closely as they can. Everywhere we can see there are other fairies jumping out of their own windows. Hopefully, they can find their own way to safety. The wind fairies always have somewhere to go.  


For a moment I see a couple red fairies not too far away from the trees. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything I can do about them, as Loxy takes that moment to announce it’s time for us to make our own escape. We have our own family to think about, after all.  


So we soar to the front of the pack and the other girls follow us to our escape.


	4. Finding A Temporary Home

Hours later, we land on a grassy field where Loxy drops me unceremoniously on the ground.  


“Oh, thanks. That really helps my damaged wing.” I say.  


“Loxy, why did we run away?” Chanter’s wide green eyes beg for answers.  


“Our home is no longer safe,” Loxy replies.  


“If it’s even there anymore.” I try to whisper to myself, but Loxy still hears me over the other girls’ mutterings. She grips my arm tightly as she pulls me off the ground. Her nails dig into my skin, and tiny beads of blood rise to the surface.  


“So, where are we going to go?” Hemlock’s voice hovers above everyone else’s.  


“There’s a colony on the human’s borders nearby.” Loxy gives me a stern look. “Fidget gets her way.” She throws her cloak around her shoulders and storms off.  


The rest of us follow solemnly after her. 

“Where have you come from?”  


A deep voice echoes from somewhere around us. As we search all around for its owner, a fairy lands in front of us, crouching down. He rises and reveals he’s much larger than any of us, with green-tinged skin. His ears are curved into a point.  


“Why are you here?”  


Loxy clears her throat. “Our forest was attacked by the fire fairies across the pond from us. We escaped before our tree burned down, but we don’t know where the rest of our people are. We thought we could come here for a home and protection.”  


He nods and checks around for anyone that might be watching. Then he grabs each of us by the hand and pulls us into his city. Apparently, we had been just on the edge of their city lines.  


Everything here is cold and metal. It’s not at all what I thought it would be. I always imagined this place would be warm and inviting. Unfortunately, my dreams aren’t reality.  


“This is the home of all fairies living near the humans. Most of us have been here for many years, though few of us have ever actually seen any of them. And I wouldn’t suggest that any of you get your hopes up. We choose this part of the city so they wouldn’t bother us.” He pauses and looks troubled. “Humans aren’t always fond of fairies.”  


I notice a pink scar poking out from under his shirt.  


“What do you mean?” All eyes turn to me.  


“We don’t tell outsiders about our past here.” He whips his head back to face us, giving us a smirk. “But it sounds like you won’t be outsiders for long. You’ll hear the story soon enough”  


“Well, what can you tell us?” Loxy taps her foot impatiently.  


He smiles widely. “I am Beetle. And there isn’t really anything to do around here. You’re the most interesting thing that’s happened to us in a long time.”

On our first night, Beetle shows us a small hut we could live in. All of us, excluding Loxy, squeeze into the one bedroom in the house. Loxy turns up her nose and decides to sleep on the couch in the living room.  


  
  


In the morning I shove her off the sofa.  


“Up, up, up! It’s time to face the world. Beetle wanted us to talk to him.”  


She gives me a glare from her spot on the floor. “Why?”  


“How should I know? He said his people wanted to know more about us. They only needed you and me to come through. He thought the whole family would be too much.”  


I float over to the bathroom. Since all my other sisters are still asleep, it’s empty. I check out my wing in the mirror. The Doctor here tried to patch it up the other day. She wove thread through the wound to hold it together while it healed, calling them stitches. Apparently, she was able to study human medicine years ago.  


I still can’t fly very well though.  


There’s a soft knock at the door. Loxy’s gentlest possible voice flows through the cracks.  


“Fidget, are you ready?”  


“Not really-”  


She takes advantage of the opening and forces her way into the bathroom, yanking the door shut behind her. She locks it and glares fiercely at me. So much for gentle.  


“I need to talk to you in private.” She hisses.  


“All you had to do was ask. Don’t just come barging in here.”  


She rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean. I wanted to discuss Faylinn.” She reaches behind me and flicks the hovering lightning bug off.  


“Why talk about her? She left us behind.” I try to brush past her, but she grabs me by the shoulders and doesn’t let go.  


“I saw her before we got out of there.” She whispers.  


“So, she’s one of them now. She betrayed us.” I try to brush past her again.  


“Fidget, listen to me.” She grips my face and forces me to look up at her. “She was afraid. I was running down the hall after I saw flames in the distance. I was on my way to tell everyone what was happening. As I ran down the hall I saw her, but she didn’t see me. She was frantic. Then one of the red fairies ran up to her and started talking to her. I didn’t hear what either of them said. Then they both flew away.”  


“Why does that matter? We were all scared Loxy, and I didn’t see anyone else leave with the fairies trying to burn our forest down.”  


“What if she was trying to come back to us?” She releases me as her voice softens.  


“She still ran away. She can’t come back after going with the fire fairies.” She doesn’t stop me leaving.  


Not this time.

Beetle walks us to the meeting room later. When we come to the door, Beetle knocks, the sound echoing through the hall.  


They made all the buildings here out of scraps of metal they find abandoned by humans. The cold walls are nothing like the bark back in our tree. And the clanging they make is always so jarring.  


A tall, thin fairy greets us. He adjusts his wire glasses and smiles.  


“So, the rumors are true. Beetle’s been watching after the forest fairies. Is it also true your home was attacked by the Red Ones?” He blinks at my sister and me expectantly.  


Beetle seems unimpressed and doesn’t answer him. “Bramble, move aside. I don’t believe you were invited to this meeting.” Beetle moves to shove him out of the way, but another fairy appears behind Bramble.  


“Actually, Alpin here took me with him.” Alpin towers over all over all of us as he silently sizes up Loxy and me.  


Beetle clears his throat.  


“Never mind, then.”  


Bramble smirks and leads the way into the room. Everywhere we look there are green fairies frozen in their conversations to stare at us. Beetle shifts uncomfortably, but he still stands at his tallest.  


Dywel, their chief, rises from his chair in the front of the room. He steps toward us, clear of emotion. As he gets closer, a friendly smile begins to light his face. I grin back.  


“Welcome, friends. We gathered here to discuss the actions we will take against the fire fairies for attacking such gentle creatures.” He nods at us and turns to face the rest of the room. “Just a few days ago my brother, Delwin’s followers burned their forest. And now we will take their home back for them.” He looks down at us again. “Don’t you worry, little ones, we will protect you.”  


The room stands in stunned silence before everyone erupts in varying fits of disagreement. Many of them say they should let us fight our own battles, or they should just take us in and let the past be the past, or even to just send us on our way to find out own home. Beetle remains silent behind us for a while before standing in front of us.  


“No, we can’t back away from this; they need someone to protect them. Don’t we train to help those who need us, to not turn our backs on those smaller than us? 

The chief says we will protect them, so we will protect them.”  


Slowly everyone nods in agreement.  


Dywel whispers his thanks to Beetle, then to us. “Girls, I’m going to have to ask you to leave while we discuss battle.” He gently ushers us out of the room, back into the hall, waving as we walk away.  


“So, I guess we’re getting our forest back,” I say once we’re left alone.  


Before stomping away Loxy mutters. “They don’t need to protect us.” I just wish she was right.  


I go back to our house to tell the other girls what happened.  


  
  


They’re all still lying in bed when I get back. The twins have squeezed closer together than when I left them. Olinda’s arms are wrapped protectively around Odiana. Odiana’s eyes are wide open, watching me sneak into the room.  


I’ve told them time and time again that they’re safe here, but they all still cling together. Everything that’s been going on has been hard on them. But hopefully, they will take my news better than Loxy did.  


Hemlock slides off the edge of the bed and scurries over to me. Her red hair sticks out in every direction, and she appears determined. “Where’d you go? We all woke up and you were gone.” She does her best to not look concerned. Hemlock hated to show any kind of weakness. I wonder if the thinks she can take Faylinn’s place as the third in charge.  


The other girls don’t try to be subtle while they watch me. I lock the door and all at once my sisters form a circle on the floor. They stare at me expectantly as I lower myself to the empty space they left me.  


“Loxy and I went to a meeting with the green fairies. They plan to take the forest back for us.”  


Lily Belle, the smallest of all of us nudges Chanter, who, as she usually is these days, is wiping tears from her eyes. “We can all go home.”  


“But our home burned, Lily Belle.” Hemlock barely contains her anger. “There’s nothing left to go back to.” I wish Hemlock considered anger a weakness.  


Lunette is unable to keep tears from streaming down her face and getting caught into her straw-colored hair.  


Gentle, always eager to offer kind words, glares at Hemlock. “Don’t say that. We can grow new trees.”  


“Or we could find a new forest. You know, one that isn’t so close to the fire fairies’ that obviously hate us.” Olinda laughs softly. Her low voice causes Oak’s red eyes to flash with fury.  


“But we all grew up there, Oli. Where else do we have to go?”  


Chanter’s white hair billows around her. “If we move away from the fire fairies, we’ll never see Faylinn again.”  


“We won’t see her again anyway, Chanter, she can’t come back after abandoning us.” I didn’t mean to get involved in the argument, but I don’t want them getting their hopes up. Hemlock looks up at me, curiosity shining in her eyes.  


“What do you mean?”  


Sighing, I told them what really happened to Mother. And how Faylinn didn’t believe what had happened and went out to prove Loxy wrong. For whatever reason, 

I left out Loxy’s involvement. I decided not to blame her anymore. She always meant well. Or if she didn’t I don’t want her on my bad side.  


They stare at me before the door swings open to reveal Loxy. She pauses, surprised to find us all on the floor, and with more than a couple of the girls crying. But then she clears her throat and announces.  


“We need to talk.”  


“We have been. I’ve told them everything.”  


“Everything?”  


“Almost.”  


She nods in thanks and squats next to me. “In a couple days most of the green fairies are leaving to get our forest back. Beetle said they’d send someone here to look after us.” She shudders at the thought. “But they don’t want us to go too far from this house for a while.”


	5. Getting Some Good News

Nearly a week later, there is a knock at the door.  


Gentle opens it, smiling with her entire face.  


Right after we got here it was decided that Gentle would be the only one to open the door. This was after Hemlock shouted at the poor soul that had come to collect us for a town gathering.  


On the other side of the door stands a green fairy that is not much bigger than us. The smile she gives Gentle is only slightly less sincere than my sister’s. I clear my throat loudly and they both notice me in the kitchen.  


The stranger gestures for me to come over to the two of them.  


“I am Bindweed. I’ve come to inform you that our people have gone to your forest. Today I am in charge of keeping you safe in your house. I live across town, so I haven’t seen any of you before. How many of you are there? I’ve heard a lot of numbers.”  


“Fou-thirteen. There are thirteen of us.” I answer.  


“Wow. We don’t have huge families like that here. Can I meet all of them?”  


I nod my approval and step aside to let her through the entryway. Gentle shuts the door for her.  


“Well, First of all, I’m Fidget, and that’s Gentle.”  


Bindweed follows me further into the house as I send Gentle to get the rest of our sisters to meet us in the sitting room.  


When we get there, the twins are playing a game with Hemlock and Raini. Hemlock looks up at Bindweed, eyebrows raised with curiosity.  


“These are the twins, Olinda and Odiana. And Hemlock and Raini.” I tap each of their heads with their names.  


Hemlock rolls her eyes. “What’s going on?”  


“Bindweed here is going to be watching us for a while. So I figured she’d need to know all of our names.”  


“Whatever. Good luck remembering all of us.” She grunts.  


Bindweed’s caught off guard by Hemlock’s harshness, but she keeps smiling all the same. I understand now why they sent her to watch after us; she seems tough for a smaller fairy.  


The other girls come in one by one and I pat each of their heads while announcing their name.  


“But that’s only twelve. Where’s the last one?”  


Everyone looks around, searching for the missing girl. Oak scoffs. “Of course. Loxy’s not here when we need her.”  


“Oak, don’t be like that. She’s probably just sleeping.” I say.  


Gentle shakes her head. “She was awake when I saw her a second ago. She said she didn’t think we need a babysitter.”  


Hemlock groans.  


“Shut it, Hem.” Hemlock raises her eyebrow at me.  


“What? She’s being totally selfish, just wandering off on her own.”  


I smack the back of her head; she whips back and gives me an angry glare.  


“She doesn’t mean to be. Now hush, it doesn’t matter now.” I turn back to Bindweed with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry about my sister, she’s just a little cranky.”  
  
  


Later that night Meadow stops me in the hall. “Bindweed said we’ll be able to go home soon. Isn’t that exciting?”  


“Well, the green fairies will be getting our forest back to us. But our trees were still burned down. They’d have to grow them back.”  


“But they can do that. Some of their fairies were trained to grow plants. I read a book about it once.” She blushes, looking down at the floor under her feet. Back at home, Meadow skimmed through any book she could get her hands on. But here she just lies around chattering in a home with no books.  


“We’ll have to live somewhere, kid. I don’t think it will be here though. It’s too small for all of us.” I try to reassure her.  


Her grin spreads across her face, lighting up with her joy. “But it’s so fun here; it’s like a sleepover that won’t end.”  


“It has to end though, Meadow.” She shrugs and turns back to the other girls.  
  
  


No more than a week could have passed before Beetle bangs on our door. Gentle greets him with a smile, but he just brushes past her.  


“They did it. You can have your forest back. But we’re going to have to regrow some trees.”  


He dives through the girls rushing about the kitchen to get me. Hemlock rolls her eyes at his enthusiasm. He pulls my ear close to him and whispers. “I think we saw your sister across the pond.” He backs away and shrugs apologetically.  


I continue to knead a mound of dough roughly, avoiding eye contact with him. He looks around, taking in the flour hovering softly over everything in sight. 

Hemlock juggles tomatoes while Meadow watches, waiting for her to drop them.  


“That doesn’t matter Beetle. She isn’t one of us anymore.”  


Hemlock drops one of the tomatoes, but Meadow catches it before it hits the ground, Oak laughs, causing Meadow’s fruit to fly at her.  


“She’s missing out on a lot. Your family is fun.”  


Loxy comes bounding down the hall. She sees Beetle and straightens her posture, faking a smile. “Has something happened?” The sickly grin stretches even farther.  


“Yeah, we got your forest back.” His genuine grin overshadows hers. The pride in his friends clearly shows.  


“Thank you for the news, Beetle.” Her tone orders privacy. Beetle nods, recognizing our silence and waves while he walks out the door.  


“He saw her,” I say as soon as he’s out the door.  


“Don’t think about that, Fidget.” She grips my shoulder tightly.  


Hemlock pulls another tomato from the refrigerator to toss it at Loxy. She catches it without a glance, then flicks it back to her.  


“Where have you been, Lox? Hiding away from the rest of us?” Hemlock questions.  


She chuckles lightly, surprising all of us. “No, I’ve been working through some files. But we should be going home soon. That will be nice.” She bows then heads back upstairs; always working, that one.  


“Maybe change can be good, Hemlock. I mean, now we have somewhere to go to if something bad happens again.” Gentle’s silver hair dances with the joyful tone of her voice.  


“Yeah, Hem-”  


“Girls, leave Hemlock alone.” She opens her mouth to thank me. “Hem, shut up.”  


She growls before running up after Loxy.  


“Fidget, wasn’t that a little harsh? She’s not the only one upset about Faylinn leaving. We all are.”  


“We all need to realize that she can’t come back and our lives can’t be the same now. There’s nothing we can do about that. But we can make a new home.”  


The girls lower their eyes to their feet.  


Back to work.


	6. Arriving at the End

The new trees almost look like the old ones. But they’re still empty. Loxy says we’re going to have to get some flowers to make our furniture, for now, the earth fairies are letting us borrow some of their things.  


Beetle’s the last to leave us.  


“I hope your sister will come back. I think that would make your family happy.”  


“No. We have rules. She wouldn’t be allowed to live here; she’s been exposed to the outside.” I say sternly, convincing myself of this as well as him.  


He tilts his head to the side. “But, all of you have been outside for weeks.”  


“We aren’t allowed to cross the river to the evil fairies lair. That’s where she went.”  


“Oh… I’m sorry, then.” He bows and springs into the air, waving before he rushes away. I watch him for a while before spreading my own newly healed wings. I flutter up to my tree and through the window to my room. But I wasn’t expecting someone to be standing in it.  


“What are you doing here?” I ask her.  


Faylinn shifts her gaze from the high ceiling to me crawling through the opening. Her lavender hair’s shorter, just past her shoulder. There are several small scars on her face and up her arms, and her clothes are ripped in a few places. She seems shocked by my arrival. Apparently, the fire fairies didn’t think we’d be returning so soon.  


“Is your wing better now? I guess it has been in a while.” Her voice was curious, as if it was perfectly normal for her to be here. As if she has never gone away.  


My wings fold against my back, hiding from her. “You shouldn’t be here.”  


“I shouldn’t have left; I wasn’t thinking. Help me, Fidget.” Her eyes are wide and pleating. Behind her begging, she’s so confident that I’ll help her get away with what she’s done. But I can’t do that.  


“Sorry, sis,” Her confidence falls. “But I won’t be able to help you. Not after everything that happened.”  


I push past her to get to the empty space where the kitchen would be. Just as I expected, Loxy’s cross-legged in the center of the room. I throw myself down next to her. Her eyes snap open to focus on me. “What’s the matter with you?”  


“Faylinn’s back.”

I follow Loxy back to my room. The other girls watch us walk through the hall but I shake my head at them. They don’t need to know what’s going on.  


Faylinn is still in the same spot she was earlier. She’s looking out the window longingly. For what, I don’t know. I still don’t really know why she left in the first place. And there’s no reason for me to believe that she returned out of the goodness of her heart.  


“You need to leave.” Loxy makes firm eye contact when she speaks.  


Faylinn nods. “I don’t know why I expected anything different.” A cruel smirk comes over her face and she bows mockingly. “Whatever the chief says, right Fidget.” 

She steps up onto the ledge of the window. Her large, pale wings unfurl and lift her weight into the air. Before she flies away she turns to me one last time. “If you want to know what she’s been keeping from you, you can still come with me.”  


In response, I close the window behind her.


End file.
